Obama And Biden Kick Off March To White House

Heaping praise on the 65-year-old senator, Obama declared that Biden was a politician â€œthat others only pretend to be: a statesmanâ€ and that he was â€œuniquely suitedâ€ to be Americaâ€™s next vice-president.

Speaking to a raucous crowd of supporters in Springfield, Illinois; Obama introduced Biden as a “scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds.”

Pennsylvania, a swing-state with similar working-class demographics as Ohio, was lost by Obama in the primaries. Biden may very well deliver those two key states. Obama said that “for months, I’ve searched for a leader to finish this journey alongside me and join me in making Washington work for the American people. I searched for a leader who understood the rising cost confronting working people.”

Heaping praise on the 65-year-old senator, Obama declared that Biden was a politician “that others only pretend to be: a statesman” and that he was “uniquely suited” to be America’s next vice-president. Obama told the crowd about Biden’s working-class background as a fighter who overcame the lost of his first wife and infant daughter in a 1972 car crash, shortly after being first elected to the U.S. Senate. Biden also survived a 1988 brain aneurysm.

He stated that Biden wasn’t the typical Washington insider and, among other things, pointed out that this current Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee still takes the train daily to and fro from his home in Delaware.

Taking a swipe at Republican candidate, John McCain, Obama stated that Biden “will give us some real straight talk” a jab at McCain’s “straight talk express” mantra. Obama called Biden the “kind of fighter I want” to “take the country in a new direction” during this time of economic crisis, who shared similar values of fighting for the middle class and working people.After Obama announced Biden, the Delaware senator wasted no time in launching into attack mode against McCain.

Saying he was “proud to stand firm with the next president,” Biden warned that America “cannot as a nation stand for four more years of the Bush/McCain policies” and that the voters “don’t have to have four more years of Bush and McCain.” Biden also echoed Obama’s comment from a few days ago that McCain was out of touch with regular Americans, in part, because during a recent interview McCain wasn’t sure how many homes he owns.

Biden stressed to the crowd that now was “the time for a total change” adding that the nation needs “more than a good soldier, we need a leader—who has judgment, intelligence and steel in his spine.” He pointed out that although Obama’s background maybe somewhat different from his that “we share the same values.”

As Biden wrap-up his comments he told the crowd that Obama is a “clear-eye pragmatist” who has “vision and courage.” He noted that “it’s been amazing to watch him” work in the Senate. In parting, Biden issued an admonition to the crowd that “this maybe our last chance to reclaim America…it’s our time, its America’s time.”

Biden will make his first major speech at the Denver Democratic Convention this Wednesday.